The present invention relates to wire management systems for furniture, particular office furniture, such as conference/training tables or workstations. More specifically, the invention concerns a wire management apparatus incorporated into a leg of the office furniture.
The plethora of electrical equipment used in most office environments presents a nettlesome problem, namely the problem of managing the seemingly endless array of electrical wires and data cables associated with the equipment. For example, a typical workstation personal computer will include power cables for the computer, printer and monitor, data cables between each of these components, networking cables, phone lines, and even wires associated with audio components of more sophisticated work stations. This problem is compounded where multiple workstations are involved, such as in a conference or training facility. Many such facilities utilize a number of large tables having multiple workstations. In these circumstances, the number of wires and cables that must be managed can be daunting.
Many articles of business furniture incorporate bezels formed in the working surface of the furniture through which the wires and cables pass. These bezels help clear the working surface of electrical wiring, but do little to solve the overall wire management problem. Many multiple workstation tables incorporate wire management features that channel the wires and cables through raceways attached to the table. While these raceways go a step further in clearing the working area of loose wires, these components still leave the problem of carrying the wires to wall outlets to power up the workstation electronics. The raceway suffers from the detriment common to the furniture wire bezel in which the wires still dangle from the furniture on their path to the wall outlet. These dangling wires and cables pose a risk that a workstation operator will unwittingly become tangled in the wiring. Moreover, the exposed wiring is generally aesthetically displeasing.
Consequently, there remains a need in the field of wire management for a system to virtually eliminate all dangling and exposed wires and cables. The optimum goal is to provide a system that emulates a fully hidden hard-wired approach in the arena of movable and/or stowable furniture.
In order to achieve this optimum goal, the present invention contemplates a furniture leg that is an integral component in the wire management protocol. In one; aspect of the invention, the table leg includes a pair of leg posts separated. by a gap but joined at the bottom of each post to feet configured for supporting the leg on the floor. A tubular legway is resiliently mounted within the gap or channel between the leg posts. The legway defines an entry opening or notch at the upper end of the legway immediately adjacent the underside of the working surface of the article of furniture. An exit opening is formed at the bottom end of the legway adjacent the feet. The tubular legway is sized to house a plurality of electrical wires and data cables with the wires passing through the upper entry notch and out the lower exit opening.
In one feature of the legway, the tubular body includes opposite clamping arm s that form arcuate recesses. The clamping arms are joined at a forward portion so that the legs are resiliently deflectable toward each other. In the natural or unstressed configuration of the legway, the clamping arms are splayed apart. The legway can be pressed into the gap or channel between the leg posts by deflecting the clamping arms toward each other. With the legway fully disposed in the gap, the leg posts reside within the recess defined in the clamping arms, and the clamping arms exert an outward restorative force to maintain the legway in that operative position.
In a further aspect of the invention, the tubular body of the legway includes a central rib extending along the length of the legway. The central rib stiffens the elongated legway and divides the legway into two wire channels. The central rib preferably includes a rear flange that cooperates with each of the clamping arms to define wire entry slots extending along the length of the legway. The wire entry slots are sized to allow passage of electrical/data wires and cables into the wire channels. This feature eliminates the need to guide the plug or connector end of the wire/cable through the length of the legway and out the lower exit opening. On the other hand, the wire entry slots are narrow enough to reduce the likelihood that any wire or cable will slide out of the legway.
Yet another feature of the furniture leg wire management apparatus of the present invention is a cover plate mounted on the tubular legway. In the preferred embodiment, the cover plate is decorative, so that the legway itself can be formed of a plain, aesthetically neutral material. The cover plate can be in the form of an elongated arcuate sheet of material with inwardly directed tangs at the free edges of the sheet. The tangs fit into corresponding slots defined in the tubular body of the legway.
It is one object of the invention to provide a further link in the chain of wire management for electrified furniture. One specific object is to provide means to conceal and manage wires and cables that would otherwise hang from the working surface of the furniture.
Another object of the present invention is realized in certain features that allow the wire management apparatus to be readily removed for modification or storage. A further object is to provide a furniture leg-based wire management apparatus that is aesthetically pleasing.